Pfizer Pharmaceutical CEO Albert Bourla said that a third dose of booster dose of the covid-19 vaccine would “probably” be needed within 12 months of being fully vaccinated, for the immunization to be complete.
“It is extremely important to suppress the group of people who may be susceptible to viruses,” Bourla told CNBC in a statement released on Thursday.
The executive also indicated that these doses will be an important tool in the fight against variants of the covid that have proven to be more contagious.
It is unknown at this time how long the vaccines will protect against covid-19, given the short duration of this product.
Pfizer recently reported that its covid-19 vaccine had more than 91% effectiveness against the virus and more than 95% against severe symptoms of the disease and that this protection was maintained at least for six months after receiving the first dose.
Also, people receiving the covid-19 vaccine from Moderna, the composition is similar to that of Pfizer, continue to show high levels of antibodies six months after the second dose, according to a study published in the scientific journal The New England Journal of Medicine. at the beginning of the month.
The study released by Pfizer showed that his vaccine seems to work similarly against the variant of majority virus in South Africa, one of the countries where the product was tested.
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced on February 26 that it would study the possibility of injecting a third dose into vaccinated people in an attempt to strengthen protection against the more aggressive variants of the coronavirus.
Bourla then said that with this third dose the antibody response could be strengthened 10 to 20 times and stressed that just as people are vaccinated annually against the flu, they will have to do it against covid-19 to be protected.
This new study is aimed at two age groups, the people between 65 and 85 years old and those between 18 and 55 and will be chosen from the group that already participated in the first tests carried out by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer in cooperation with BioNTech.
The University of Oxford has begun a new clinical study to determine whether doses of vaccines can be combined and an adequate immune response obtained with two doses regardless of manufacturer.
Researchers already have the participation of the vaccine of AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and the candidate of the American Novavax.